Halo: Luyten Conflict
by Luccarios
Summary: Coren Rimmons, fresh out of AIT, is tossed into the violent war against the Covenant.
1. Chapter 1 - Worst Case Scenario

**1030 Hours, 14 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**New Constantinople System, Outskirts of _Illuminate City, _planet New Constantinople  
**

* * *

The pelican lurched as it accelerated around the base of a massive skyscraper, and Lance Corporal Coren Rimmons held on tight. The sun was obscured by an inky sky, struggling to cast light onto the sprawling metropolis below. Everyone in the dropship bay was staring out at it. Distant explosions criss-crossed up above - almost reminiscent of a fireworks display.

Casper was sitting next to him. "You scared, man? I don't know if I'm ready for this." He told Coren. "I think I'm gonna puke."

"They said that we had the upper-hand here in Illuminate. Nothing to worry about." Coren replied.

For months, Coren and the others in his unit had been training on Reach. It'd been a grueling process. Turning from a civilian to a marine. And after that had been Infantry School, which had made boot camp look, and feel, like a boy scouts program. And then AIT, which had made Infantry School feel like a summer camping program.

First Lieutenant John Parish came out of the cockpit, stepping into the troop-bay. Everyone's eyes focused on him immediately. "Everyone listen closely." The faintest tinges of gray were starting to touch the edges of his hair. No one knew his age, but Lieutenant Parish had been in the UNSC since 2520. The proof of his experience was etched across his face. He looked rugged and cold. It matched his personality.

"You all know what we're here for, but the situation is getting worse. Captain Lloyd and 3rd platoon are bogged down deep near the middle of Illuminate, and they can't move. We will touch down in 3 mikes, expedite to their location, and then make our way back towards the edges of the city to the Green Zone along with them." Parish told them. "Questions?"

Casper raised his hand and spoke up. "Can't an extraction team dispatch directly to their location?"

"No. Covenant SAM sites and AA turrets are packed tight towards the center of the city. As well as their ground troops. Any attempt at a fly-in would be a waste of time, and life."

Coren captured this data in his head and mulled it over. The original mission had been fairly simpler than this one. Their orders had been to link up with the rest of the company to retake the eastern part of Illuminate City. How could the situation get this bad this fast? Of course, he knew how dangerous the Covenant were. But it'd never occurred to him how much magnitude that one fact carried.

"This is what you signed up for. This is what you've been training for." Parish said, taking a long look at everyone in the troop-bay. "If you weren't ready, you wouldn't be here. Let's get this done."

Coren heard the words, but he wasn't sure if he felt them. He'd signed up to save human lives - to help kill the enemies of mankind. Not to get slaughtered 2 weeks after Advanced Infantry Training. The recruiters, and everyone else he'd talked to upon swearing in, had never really talked about what it was like firsthand to be on the receiving end of the monumental Covenant stick. New Constantinople was being torn away every single day. Every day they were being pushed back. His company hadn't arrived until 2 days ago, but they knew what direction the battle was heading towards.

The lieutenant walked back into the cockpit.

Coren's platoon, 2nd platoon, was split into 3 separate pelicans. The troop bay was too small to fit the entirety of the platoon. There was only 16 of them in this pelican's troop bay - 2nd squad. His squadleader was an Earth-born guy who'd come from a wealthy family. James Watson was his name. On the outside, James looked like a passive, scrawny Intelligence Officer. But Coren respected him. James had stood apart in the Infantry School and AIT. "When we land, it's game on. Everyone needs to be on point. Our lives depend on it." James told them. He was sitting next to the landing ramp. "We didn't go through all that bullshit in UCMB for nothing."

Coren agreed. But Casper said, "I don't see why they're sending us in. Based on what Parish just said, the Captain is probably dead anyway. The city's filled with Covenant."

"They won't get Captain Lloyd." James told him.

Coren agreed again. He'd read all about Lloyd prior to deploying to New Constantinople. The man was a legend.

He looked back out the window of the landing ramp. They passed over streets and parks and small buildings. Occasionally he would see a towering skyscraper. Behind them was the other 2 pelicans; one on the right, and one on the left. It was a triangle formation.

There was something else out there flying, too. Coming up fast.

"What the hell is that?" Casper asked.

Everyone's eyes locked on the single window. Two black dots were steadily growing larger as they gained on the pelican formation.

The COM channel in Coren's helmet lit up with traffic. "Banshees on our six!" He heard. "Ogre-2, you've got banshees closing in on you!" One of the pilots was shouting.

Coren's heart jumped immediately, and then his heartbeat accelerated. They'd been given information on the Covenant troops and vehicles. The banshee flier was their deadliest aerial attack craft. Extremely deadly. The troop bay was filled with chatter among the squad.

"Oh, no!"

"We're gonna die!"

Casper's mahogany face was filled with fear. "Shit, man, I _knew _we weren't gonna last a second!"

Plasma fire erupted from the banshees as they got within range, opening fire on 3rd Squad's pelican. The pilot dipped and then dodged to the left, narrowly escaping the side of a massive parking lot. The plasma bomb trailing them didn't miss. An engine exploded, along with the right wing, as the large plasma bolt struck the pelican. A fiery blaze leaked out from the impact, violently knocking the dropship to the side. Plumes of black smoke trailed from the craft.

"Damnit, we're hit! I don't have any control over starboard jets. We're going down." The Ogre-2 pilot said. The pelican crashed into a large apartment complex, tore clean through it, and then hit the ground - hard. There was an explosion as one of it's engines erupted in a nasty blaze.

Lieutenant Parish rushed out of the cockpit, his lips set in a grim line. "Everyone hang on tight! Stay in your seats and double-check your weapons and gear. We're going to be -"

Parish was cut off as plasma bolts began smacking the rear of their pelican. Coren forced himself to stay focused. The rounds were tearing into the pelican, ripping away it it's armor as if it were nothing. Several rounds tore through it completely, and a round hit Parish and knocked him to the floor. Some of the marines screamed as hot plasma slammed the inside of the pelican. At the same time, the pelican twisted hard and Coren lost his grip on his assault rifle. The ship was shaking erratically.

"We're going down! Everyone hang on!" James shouted over the sound of plasma fire and screaming engine.

They hit the ground.

* * *

Coren wasn't sure if he was still alive at first. Everything was black. He couldn't hear anything. The only thing he had was his thoughts. But then he started to feel. There was pain, first sharp, and then dull. There was a sense of unbalance - like he was upside down. And his hearing began to return. Next, he remembered what had happened. Right after James had shouted that they were going down, the landing ramp door had exploded. Several plasma rounds had struck the inside of the troop-bay. Luckily, Coren hadn't gotten hit. But others had. Someone had flew out the rear of the pelican. It'd been Parish - it had to have been. He was the only one who hadn't been strapped in. The lieutenant was gone.

Coren opened his eyes. He was still strapped into his seat, hanging upside down. The troop-bay was a disaster. Metal was strewn about, and so were bodies. He saw James slumped into his seat in an odd angle. He couldn't tell if James was still alive. Nobody else was moving. Equipment was scattered about. He coughed twice from the smoke that filled the pelican. This was bad.

Coren tried to unlock his harness, but it was jammed. It wouldn't budge. So he reached as far as he could to the strap wrapped around the shin of his left leg, barely managing to grip the combat knife held there. Then he began to cut away at the straps holding him in. It wasn't easy. After a minute or two, it finally gave. He fell down hard and fast, but luckily, he landed on top of someone to absorb the fall.

There was a small cry of pain as he landed on the other marine. Instinctively, he rolled to the side. The marine groaned as she came to. It was Ashley, the squad corpsman. Her face was covered in black smudges - exhaust that'd been ejected from the engines when they'd hit the ground.

"You ohkay?" Coren asked her as he shakily got to his knees.

"What happened?"

"Those banshees. They shot us down. I don't know where we're at - I just managed to get out of my seat." Coren told her. Then he added, "Oh, sorry about that."

She brushed it off with a wave of her hand as she sat up.

"We need to see if anyone else is good to go, and then get up out of here. They're going to be sending a search party to finish us off, no doubt about it." Coren said as he checked James.

No pulse. Coren closed his eyes and fought back a wave of bitter sadness. James had a family back on Earth - a younger sister and two happily married parents.

They would be getting a letter from the UNSC soon. They wouldn't be happy much longer. Damn.

There was a crash behind Coren that caused him to jump up violently, sending his heartbeat into overdrive again. Casper had cut himself down from his seat. He coughed twice and managed to stand up. The first thing he asked was, "James, is he...?"

Coren shook his head. James and Casper had been close in boot camp, and even closer in Infantry School.

Nobody said anything as they searched the rest of the pelican. Half of the squad was dead, and so were the 2 pilots. Parish had been sent flying out the back of the pelican when they were crashing. On top of that, he'd been hit with a banshee round. It was safe to assume that he was dead. And James was, too. So they were on their own. The Hall brothers were both still alive. They'd joined up together through the buddy system. Griff was older than his younger brother, Coor, who'd just graduated secondary school. The heavy-weapons specialist, Henry, didn't have so much as a scratch. He was big. Johnathon and Cassandra survived the crash as well.

Half of the squad. Eight of them in total. It wasn't much.

Coren stood at the demolished exit-ramp of the pelican. "Alright. Grab as much ammo as you can, and medical supplies." He told everyone. "Just leave everything else - it'll slow us down. James is dead, and the LT might as well be, but we still need to get to the Captain."

"No way, man. There's no way in hell we're going to make it to him. We're better off staying put until someone comes to rescue us." Casper said, taking a step forward.

"We can't do that. It's only a matter of time before the Covenant send out a Search and Destroy team to finish us off. We can't stay here. We need to try and link up with the rest of the platoon first, and then make our way to the Captain's position." Coren replied. "If he's anything close to what they say about him, he's still alive."

A small fire just outside the crumpled pelican was kicking up flames. Coren could feel the heat of it at his back. They were running out of time.

"Alright." Casper said, resigned.

They all exited the remains of the crushed pelican. Coren knew that he'd gotten lucky to have survived the crash. Half of the people that he'd trained with were now gone, forever. And even the tough-as-nails lieutenant, the fearsome John Parish, was gone. And the mission hadn't even truly began. Coren could only hope that the other squads fared better. But he was far from certain. Third squad had blown up, literally. The chances of anyone making it out of that were next to impossible. He'd seen the explosion with his own eyes. Seen the lives of many be extinguished in an instance. So fresh out of training, he'd already experienced the horrors of war. First squad most likely got downed as well. Coren refused to assume that they made it away from the banshees.

Everyone formed up on Coren. They all knelt down under the cover of a canopy of trees just outside the entrance of an abandoned library. He tried to raise 1st squad on the COM channel. "Grayson, come in. This is Lance Corporal Rimmons, 2nd squad." He waited briefly, but there was no response. He tried one more time.

He had the same result.

"Someone probably made it from 3rd squad." Griff said. His black eyes revealed that he didn't truly believe it.

"Maybe. We know where they went down. If someones still alive from there, then we need to hook up with them. They might have wounded." Ashley said. She looked at Coren. They all did.

They were waiting for his orders. Coren had messed up his chance at squadleader back when they were in AIT. He'd gotten the whole team killed in a field-training op. He wasn't sure why they expected him to take lead. He had to come up with something. "Ohkay. Let's check out 3rd squad's crash site. Worst case scenario," Coren told them, "we gather up as much ammo and supplies as we can. We'll have to backtrack to that apartment building, and we'll have to hurry. The Covenant have to be on their way to make sure we're dead. We need to get there before they do."

Johnathon, tall and lanky, stood up. "Then let's go."

They fanned out, hugging the sides of the streets, staying out of the clear. According to Cassandra's map, the apartments were several blocks ahead. Not too far, but not close either. Coren, big Henry, and Coor were sweeping the left side of the streets. Everyone else was on the right. They moved carefully and as fast as they could. Occasionally, they would pause to scan the area, and then bunnyhop their way forward. Everything was clear-

-until Coren saw movement up ahead. Instantly, he held up his fist. Coor and big Henry came up behind him, covering his rear. Casper signaled for everyone on the right of the street to pause. They were at a 4-way intersection. And then Coren held up two fingers, pointed to a small post-office building up ahead on the right, and made a sweeping motion. On the other side of the street, Griff and Johnathon moved forward slowly. Johnathon crouched down behind a car and trained his weapon on the post-office. Griff sprinted forward, crossed the street, and slid into position on the right side of the double-door entrance. Johnathon did the same and got into position in front of the left door.

Coren had seen something move inside of it. There'd been a disturbance in the shadows. He wasn't sure if it was anything, but they had to be careful. Dealing with the Covenant demanded it.

With his back facing it, Griff kicked the right door in and moved out of the way immediately. At the same time, Johnathon rushed inside with his MA5B held up, ready to fire. Griff followed him in. Coren saw shadows move around on the inside. There weren't any gunshots. A minute later, they came out.

Griff signaled that it was clear, and then he and Johnathon fell back into formation. They proceeded.

After a while, they got to where they could see the smoke from the crash site. They didn't need Cassandra's navigation anymore, for the time being. And the smoke was black.

So they all regrouped on Coren's position. "We need to slow down and take this by-the-book. The Covenant could be in the area. They're probably at the crash site now. If they are, then we're going to have to let those supplies go." He told them. They all nodded. Casper looked relieved. "I wanna get some payback in, kill me a few of them myself, but we can't risk it. We might get dragged into a prolonged gunfight, and chances are good that that's what's gonna happen. If it does, then we're as good as dead. On top of that, we'll never make it to the Captain. If he dies, then this whole battle is over. So if we get in there and see Covenant, then we get the hell out."

Big Henry held up his M739. "What if they're here, but we can take 'em?"

Coren wasn't entirely sure about Henry's question, so he gave it some thought. In the codex, he'd read about 2 of the mainline Covenant battle troops - the ones that the UNSC had the most data on. In small groups, they could be handled. They weren't big, and they were a bit sloppy. But they were still dangerous. If a small team was scouting out the crash site, then they might be able to take them if they had the element of surprise.

"If we can take them, then we do it. If there's too many, then it's a no-go." He told Henry. "If it's all clear, then we check for survivors first before we load up on supplies."

The pelican had hit the ground just on the outside of a large hospital. There was a lot of open ground leading up to it. It was at the center of a ring of buildings. Coren split the squad up, the same set-up as before, and silently entered the backdoor of a small cafe. Quickly they checked the inside of the cafe. There wasn't anything left - anything he could eat, anyways. Damn. And then they trained their weapons on the smoking pelican. A fire raged on the port side of it. Coren didn't see any movement. "Coor, you see anything?" He whispered.

"Looks good." Coor said.

He picked up Casper on the COM link. They were far off on the right flank. "You got anything?"

"Nothing moving - Covenant nor UNSC. I think they're all dead. Are we moving in?"

"Hold your position and cover us. Coor, big Henry, and me are gonna check it out. Oh, and tell Ashley to come out here - we might need her."

"If the Covenant come while you're out there, and you get killed, can I take over the squad and leave the city?"

"Shut up." Coren told him.

Coren checked the cafe one more time, making sure there wasn't any food left, and then signaled for Coor and Henry to follow him. They crossed a small street, a large plain of grass, and then entered the parking grounds of the hospital. They spread out through the parked cars, keeping their heads low and moving fast. Despite the cover that the cars provided, Coren still felt exposed. A random memory entered his mind of when he was in school - hiding from the administrators in the parking lot. Stupid.

There was a large flight of stairs leading up to the hospital where the pelican was resting on it's side. Closer, Coren could tell just how much damage it'd suffered. Half of the pelican was caked in black exhaust, mangled and destroyed. The fire was lapping at the side of it. He could smell fuel.

They made it to the top of the stairs at the same time as Ashley. She was carrying a large bag on her back that was filled with biofoam and other medical supplies. It had to be heavy. She was tough.

There were bodies strewn about, and blood. The entire cockpit was gone, and so were the pilots. The explosion must have incinerated them. Far from the pelican lay the body of LCPl. Locard, the squad leader. It was a messy sight.

Coren entered the troop bay and took a look around. Damn. The explosion had charred half of them. It smelled bad. They hadn't stood a chance. Ashley stepped in next to him, and he heard her gasp. Henry and Coor came in as well. Blood covered the walls of the troop bay. And Coren felt a chill creep up his spine. This could have been his squad.

"Check the ones who haven't been fried. Then load up what weapons you can get. Take their rocket launcher, Henry. If we get strafed by banshees, then we're gonna need it." Coren said as he turned to sit on the edge of what was left of the exit ramp.

For the first time in his life, Coren felt as if he wouldn't make it through the rest of the day. All throughout his life, all of those hard things he'd been through, he'd always expected to make it. He'd never doubted his instincts to survive. He'd told his sister that he would be alright - that they would get rid of the Covenant on New Constantinople. But now, he didn't think that he would live to see tomorrow. The Covenant were beyond powerful. So fast and deadly. Those banshees had swooped in, dropped their entire platoon, and left - just like that. Even the legendary Captain Lloyd was probably gone, along with all of third platoon. And as far as Coren knew, he and the rest of his squad were the only ones left in 2nd platoon. First squad's pelican had probably exploded in the air. Probably got it the worst.

Maybe Casper was right. Casper was Coren's best friend. It wasn't often that Casper was right. But this time, he probably was. Maybe they should scrap the mission - save their asses while they still can. If the Captain was still bogged down and not dead, then oh well. Not everyone can make it. But Coren's instincts were telling him that he wasn't going to make it if he tried to lead his squad into the _heart _of the damned city.

It wasn't even his squad. He'd failed his chance to make squadleader - failed it badly. He didn't have the right to dictate where they should go. Maybe he should let Cassandra take lead. Her navigational skills, and her survival ability, was way above Coren's. She was extremely smart. Or maybe Griff should take charge. Griff and his brother were one hell of a pair. They'd been fighting ever since they were kids. If anyone could make it out of this city, it would be those two. And James was dead.

"Hey, someone's alive!" Coor shouted.

Coren jumped up immediately. They'd found a survivor. Ashley rushed over to where Coor was, practically knocked him out of the way, hard, and pulled off her medical bag. Coren got closer and saw who survived. It was Anthony, the youngest person in the platoon - a few months younger than Coor. His head was bleeding. Coren hadn't done too well in Field Medics, but he knew that a bleeding head was bad. And there was a deep cut on his cheek.

Ashley pulled out a canister of biofoam and applied it to Anthony's head and his cheek. He made a groan of pain. Coren knew firsthand what it felt like to get a wound sprayed by biofoam. It hurt. Ashley finished with the biofoam and then wrapped a bandage around his head. The entire top of his skull was covered in the bandage - Ashley was thorough. Then she put a small bandage on his cheek.

"He'll be alright after while." Ashley said, pulling out a canteen of water. She gave him some and he coughed it up at first, but then he managed to swallow some.

"Anthony? Can you walk?" Coor asked him.

Anthony struggled to sit up in his seat at first. He looked a bit woozy, which made sense.

"Can you shoot?" Henry asked.

"Can you keep up?" Coren asked him.

Ashley twisted around. "Stop asking him so many questions! Give him some time. You all are so hardheaded." She fussed. She was dedicated to her job, 100%. Back in boot camp, when Coren had first met her, she'd told him that her mother and grandmother had both been nurses. She'd wanted to be one too, but she also wanted to be in the military. So she became a combat medic, or corpsman. Whichever term fitted.

Anthony unbuckled from his straps and wobbly stood up on his feet. "What the hell happened? Where's..." His voice trailed off as he took a look around the pelican. A thousand emotions crept across his face. "My God... I remember now. We got shot down... And Locard. Locard - he got tossed out... No..."

Coren understood what Anthony was feeling, but time was of the essence. He handed Anthony a scavenged assault rifle. "I know what you're feeling - we all do. But as we speak, the Covenant are probably sending in a team to come and make sure -" Coren was cut off by Casper's voice in his ear.

"There's something coming from the west. I think it's one of those phantom dropships. Shit, it _is._ Coren, you need to get out of there. We'll cover you."

They all heard it. The Covenant were here. "No. We'll get the drop on them. Hold your fire and keep down until I say otherwise." He told Casper. And then he said to the others in the pelican, "They're coming from the west. We'll crawl out of the cockpit and hide behind the pillars at the hospital entrance. Go!"


	2. Chapter 2 - It's a Suicide Mission Now

**1140 Hours, 14 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**New Constantinople System, Outskirts of _Illuminate City, _planet New Constantinople  
**

* * *

The rule of war - the _only _rule of war - was less than 5 words. It was a mantra that every warrior had to live by. A code. What war demanded.

_Kill or be killed._

Advanced Infantry Training was the 6-week course that Infantry marines are sent to after the preliminary Infantry School. AIT was where they truly became marines. Tactics were drilled into them. The ability to survive in nearly any environment was instilled into them. Teamwork was emphasized - _forced _- into their training. Strategical adeptness was increased tenfold. The basics that'd been taught during Infantry School were built upon. In short, AIT is where a marine becomes _deadly._

It's also where failures happen. And Coren had been one of those failures. He'd been given charge of the squad. They'd been testing everyone throughout the length of that week. Weeding out the skilled and the foolish. Coren had failed his test, and had been denied any chance of making squadleader. He'd been deemed a liability when placed in charge. The entire squad would be in jeopardy of termination.

But now, Coren was determined to keep everyone alive.

Beads of sweat slowly trickled down his forehead and his arms. He was crouched down low, pressing his back into a massive stone support column that was holding up the facade of the hospital. Coor was right next to him, immobile and wide-eyed. Ten meters to Coren's right was Ashley, Henry, and the newcomer, Anthony. They were pressed up against the adjacent pillar, packed in tight and crouched down low. They were all in position. Poised for the kill. If the ambush played out like Coren planned, then they would survive - probably. He just needed to get lucky. He needed the phantom dropship to leave after it dropped off the ground troops.

If it didn't... At least Coren would die fighting.

And so they waited.

The hum of powerful engines grew closer and louder as the dropship approached. Coren felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. They were so close. He risked a peek around the side of the column. He couldn't resist.

What he saw made him tighten his grip on his MA5B. He'd read about the Type-52 Troop Carrier, and he'd seen some photos of them. None of the pictures he'd seen could compare. It was a bulbous aircraft, sleek and purple, and bristling with weaponry beneath it. Coren counted three plasma cannons - one at the head of the ship, with the other 2 on either side. One round from those cannons would wipe Coren off the face of the planet. And half of Coor. From where he was positioned, the craft looked menacing. Slowly, it lowered itself closer to the pelican, until it stopped roughly 20 meters from the ground above the stairs leading to the hospital entrance.

A lustrous, cylindrical swirl of light emanated from a hole in the belly of the phantom. It was a light blue hue, almost iridescent, and transparent. Like light. It stretched from the hole in the ship and touched the ground. Coren realized that it was a gravity lift. His eyes were transfixed on it.

Creatures began pouring from the opening, floating down slowly to the ground. Coren felt a chill creep up his spine - this close to the enemy. The first handful were squat and stocky. Their skin was a dirty, mottled dark grey. Their exoskeleton armor clung to their torsos, encasing them in deep black armor. They looked stubby, but Coren estimated them to be about 4 ft. tall. He was bigger than them. The fact didn't calm him at all.

Mentally, Coren recognized the troops, even though he had never seen them in person before. They call them Grunts. They looked like it.

Along with them was a trio of taller creatures. Taller, more lankier. Coren wasn't bigger than these. They looked like walking, mutated vultures. What stood out on them was their eyes, which were very large and pale. Slender and reverse-jointed, and very sinewy, Coren didn't think they looked too tough. They had on more body armor than the grunts did, however.

These were the Jackals Coren had read about prior to deployment. He'd also read where they were most likely carnivorous. The appearance of their teeth sure as hell made that more likely.

Coren counted 8 of them in total. They were packing handheld weapons shaped like an elongated C. Coren could see the faint light-yellow energy emanating from what he assumed was the barrel of the weapon. All of them were carrying these. Coren had seen enough.

He turned to Coor and whispered, "I count eight. Let's see what that phantom does."

Coren heard sharp squeals and barks. The Covenant troops must be talking to each other. They sounded... Strange. As if they were making guttural noises in their throats instead of actually speaking words.

"The phantom's leaving." Casper's voice whispered in Coren's ear. He didn't know how good the Covenant troops' hearing was, but to be certain, he turned down the volume on his COM channel link.

He waited several seconds to be certain that the phantom was going. The hum of the engines grew fainter until he couldn't hear them anymore. He took another quick peek around the column. It was gone. The grunts and jackals were moving slowly towards the pelican. Exposed. Out in the open.

"Casper, you ready?" He whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Mm." Was the very faint reply.

Coren unhooked a frag grenade from his ammunition belt. The pelican, or what was left of it, obscured his vision a little. If he wasn't careful, the grenade could potentially hit it. That would be tragic. The grunts and jackals wouldn't so much as feel a _tiny_ concussive force. But he primed the grenade and held it tightly. Cautiously, the grunts approached the troop-bay. He heard the discharge of one of their weapons - they were making sure all of the marines were dead. Coren rounded the side of the pillar and threw the grenade.

He'd put a lot if arc into it. His heart jumped as it nearly hit the wing of the pelican - just barely flying over it. He'd gotten lucky. From what he could see, the grunts reacted curiously. There were barks and squeals. One of them stepped closer to it as it bounced off the ground and landed in the center of their pack.

At the same time, Casper and the others opened fire from their concealed position off to Coren's left. Blood spurted from the grunts as rounds slammed into them. They were in disarray, panicking. Coren could see why they were referred to as grunts - their tactical awareness seemed low. One of them returned fire as it stumbled backwards, letting out several plasma rounds in the direction of the incoming fire from the other half of the squad.

The shots splashed harmlessly against the side of the building that they were in. And then the grenade exploded. Coren felt an almost imperceptible shaking of the ground as the blast rocked the grunts. The quick, deadly explosion sent them flying - blood and pieces and all. It was a nasty sight, but it was one that Coren cherished. The smoke cleared up from the blast, and that's when he saw the jackals.

One of them was dead, no doubt about it. Blood was oozing from holes in the exposed portions of it's body armor. It's head was wrenched at an odd angle from the impact force from one of the bullets. The other two, however, were still alive. They were wearing what looked like some type of energy shield on their arms. It glowed a vibrant light-blue and was shimmering from the concussive blastback of the frag. Both of them were tucked in tight behind their shields, standing side by side. Bullets pinged off of the shields harmlessly. In turn, the jackals fired their plasma weapons from the cover of their shields. Luckily, they didn't know about Coren. He had the flank on them.

Coren signaled for Coor to follow him as they rounded the pillar. "Light 'em up!" Coren shouted. "Keep firing!"

For the first time in the war, Coren fired his weapon at the enemy. The MA5B had a small amount of recoil to it. He fired in controlled bursts, like he'd been trained to do, in order to maximize accuracy. They were on the side of the jackals with a clear line of sight - no shield to protect them. Both he and Coor let loose a torrent of 7.62mm FMJs. It produced a satisfying result. Blood erupted from the jackals in their arms and legs. Both of them collapsed to the ground, but Coor and Coren kept firing. They didn't stop until their magazine counters read 0.

It was then that Coren realized that he'd been holding his breath. He was standing in the middle of a team of dead Covenant troops. The end of his barrel had very light smoke creeping out of it. For a minute, he was frozen. He didn't know what to say. Didn't even know what to _think._

They'd successfully engaged the Covenant.

Coren stepped around the bodies, taking a closer look at each of them in turn. These were the monsters that'd been claiming so many human worlds? They bled. They could be killed. Standing this close to them, they didn't look that tough.

"Shit, man." Coor said, standing next to Coren. He didn't say much. This was the first time Coren had heard him curse.

The others came up behind him. Everyone's reaction was relatively the same - nearly speechless. Ashley bumped into him. "Hey, you didn't get us killed." She said, smiling.

Coren couldn't help but laugh.

He'd been so scared. He'd almost froze up on tossing the grenade. A thousand different scenarios had run through his mind. He'd pictured getting spotted by the phantom. Pictured what would happen if they'd dropped off way more than 8 troops. All of it. And now it was over. He took a deep breath. "Yeah. Yeah, we're ohkay." Was his reply.

Casper and the rest of the squad showed up a moment later. Everyone was staring at the dead troops. Coren could feel his body calm down - his heart rate slowing to a normal level. Even Anthony looked better than he had a few minutes ago.

"That wasn't so bad." Casper said, smiling. "We gave it to those sons of bitches."

While everyone was laughing and talking and stuff, Coren took a close look around. First, he did a head check on everyone. Coor was busy telling Griff about the up-close fight. Ashley was checking Anthony's bandages. Big Henry was messing with one of the Covenant weapons along with long-legged Johnathon. And Casper was saying something to Cassandra.

Everyone was all here.

Next, Coren did a quick search of the scene. At first, he was considering taking one of the plasma weapons for himself - it could come in handy. But he dismissed the thought. He didn't know how it worked. Didn't even know how to reload it. He figured it would be a bigger risk to take one with him - he could accidentally fire it, shooting either himself or someone else. They didn't need it anyway.

After that, Coren checked his watch. It was approaching midday. He wanted to try first squad on the COMs again, but he didn't want to risk the Covenant picking up the frequency. And so he reloaded his weapon. The ammo counter jumped back up to 60. Then, he walked over to the jackal that he'd killed. He made an attempt on pulling off the brace that he assumed had projected the energy shield. It didn't budge. He flexed his fingers and then pulled again, hard. It slid off the broken arm of the jackal. For a few seconds, he tossed it around in his hands, examining it. There were 2 fat buttons on it. He popped the thing on his wrist, then tapped the first button. Nothing happened. He tried the other button, and nothing happened.

Maybe it's got some fail-safe on it. Maybe it only worked on jackals. Maybe the battery was dead. Maybe it didn't like him. He shrugged, pulled it off and tossed it to the side.

And finally, he turned to face the squad. "Alright. It's getting close to midday. We've got a long ways to go before we reach the Captain." He told them. They nodded. "It won't be long before they come looking for this crew that we killed. We need to be long gone before that happens."

* * *

"Think you can get it to work?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I need to get a good look at it first."

"Maybe we don't need it. It'll draw too much attention."

"That firepower, though..."

"Yeah, but measure it out in your head. More firepower _and_ presence, over what we have now? We already proved we don't need it. We'll last longer without it."

"It's a risk. But we just might need it."

"I say we take it and get the hell out of this city while we still can. The Captain can get out on his own."

"Anthony needs to rest. It'll help him a lot."

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Everyone, chill out! Damn! We leave it behind." Coren told them.

They were all posted up on the top floor of a 10-story police HQ, looking out a large, one-way window that spanned across the entire side of the building for that floor. They needed the momentary rest. Coren had ordered everyone to post up. He'd told them that they all needed to take a short break. To maintain efficiency. That was all true, but that wasn't the main reason why Coren had wanted to stop. Secretly, he wasn't so sure of the mission anymore. Casper's words had planted a seed of doubt in his mind that'd grown very large as of late. He needed time to think it over.

The room they were in was dark, and everything in it looked black. The one-way windows were tinted. It felt somewhat safe here. There were intelligence cubicles set up throughout the length of the room, with papers scattered across the floor and other pieces of equipment tossed about.

Casper was most likely right, according to Coren's calculations. To begin with, looking strictly at the numbers, the statistics said that the Captain, and everyone with him, was gone. Dead. The Covenant are known for sending in waves of troops until they finally succeed. They had the numerical advantage, the weaponry advantage, and the time advantage.

Plus, the entire mission had basically been scrapped when their pelicans had been shot down. There was only 9 of them. First squad was MIA. What could they possibly do to help the Captain? They would show up, get bogged down with him, and get killed alongside him, undoubtedly - and that was _if _the Captain was still walking.

Plus plus, their chances of actually making it there in time were growing slimmer by the second. The Covenant had stepped up their patrols over the past 2 hours in lieu of the eradicated squad that they'd killed. Phantoms were on patrol in the skies. Ground teams had become more frequent. Coren had managed to sneak the squad around these patrols successfully so far. They'd come so close to being caught last time, Coren had immediately began looking for a suitable location to hunker down at.

A team full of jackals had been hunting them. Some of them had been carrying what looked like some type of rifle. The rest of them had their shields activated, moving slowly and deliberately. Henry had been trying to move quietly to a better spot. Instead of being quiet, he'd slipped up a bit, kicking up a few pebbles from the shattered granite beneath him.

Luckily, the jackal that'd been sent to check it out had been called back just before it'd reached him. Damn close call.

"But I can fix it, I'm almost certain." Johnathon said to Coren. Coren looked up. He'd been lost in thought.

"We have to get out of this city. We can't go on." He said.

At that, everyone looked at him. He could see the surprise on their faces. He could see the questions in their eyes.

"What? Why?" Griff asked. He didn't look as if he agreed with the decision, along with half of the team.

"We'll just be throwing our lives away. We don't have the numbers to effectively help out Captain Lloyd. That's _if _we can even make it there - and our chances of doing that have been getting slimmer by the minute. We barely made it here without the Covenant getting our position." Coren told them. They all circled in around him, gathering close, listening tentatively. Their lives were in the balance. "I know the Captain's reputation. But we have to be real here. He's most likely dead, along with the rest of 3rd.

"I'm going to follow Casper's recommendation - we need to get out of here while we still can. We need to stick together."

"What if 1st squad made it? They could have made it to the Captain, gave him some support." Griff countered.

"Even if they did, we still have to get ourselves out of here. We can't go further into the city. Lieutenant Parish told us that the Covenant forces were dense there, on top of the hunter teams already searching for us. And there won't be any air support - not only because of the AA weaponry they have, but also their banshee fliers. We didn't even make it 5 minutes into the city." Coren pulled his helmet off for a brief moment and ran his gloved fingers through his short black hair. "It's a suicide mission now."

He would have told them another truth. He would have told them that he was scared. He was struggling to keep himself focused. He'd never been this close to death before in his life. He would have told them that he didn't expect for _any _of them to make it out of this city alive unless they got lucky. He would have told them that if the rest of the squad was still here, he'd have kept going onwards - or, rather, he'd recommend the move to James, who was now dead.

He would have told them a lot of things, but outside, cresting over the rooftops of several buildings, were 2 phantom dropships. And they were moving fast. There was one on the left flank, and another on the right. Their nose cannons rotated to face the police HQ, and began to glow red as they warmed up.

They'd been found.

"Everyone, cover!" Coren shouted loudly. He leaped behind a thick cubicle panel and slid underneath the desk in it - and felt two distinct rumbles as the plasma rounds struck the building. He heard the shattering of glass and the cry of dropship engines approaching.

Coren scrambled to his knees, grabbed his MA5B, and looked around the side of the cubicle panel. The window they'd been looking out of was gone completely. Along with a large portion of floor where it'd been. He could feel some of the heat from the blast. Outside, the two phantoms were swooping low to either side, dipping down low towards the ground. The first one hovered above the ground in front of the destroyed window. The second one was moving around towards the rear south side of the building. The HQ shook a few more times as the phantoms fired suppressive rounds into it.

Damn.

"Everyone ohkay?" He said aloud.

He heard a response from everyone - everyone except for Johnathon.

"John's hit! It's bad!" Someone screamed.

Coren got up from his spot and rushed to the source of the voice. He crossed over to the other side of the room in record time and saw Casper holding Johnathon up. It was bad.

Blood was flowing from Johnathon's mouth, and he was coughing it out violently. His body armor was destroyed completely, leaving behind a blackened crater of cauterized blood and flesh. His long legs were stretched out in front of him as he leaned against Casper. Johnathon had always seemed brave. It was an ugly sight to see him like this. He clutched at Casper's chest as he fought to stay alive.

Ashley slid up next to him, but Coren saw the look on her face. There was nothing she could do to save him from this. "John..." She said softly.

Johnathon's lips trembled as he tried to say something. His large eyes were staring up at the ceiling. He made a gurgling noise, and then he slackened. His eyes lost their light. He was gone.

There hadn't been anything Ashley could do to counter this type of wound, and her pain was evident on her face. She was normally extremely tough. She had nerves of steel. Coren had never seen her like this before. Coren had never felt this way before himself. Would this be how the war would work out? This is what it felt like to watch a fellow marine die, right in front of your eyes? A wave of emotions hit him. He felt a sharp sadness. And then he felt terror, and regret. But the last thing he felt was burning rage. He wanted revenge.

That was when he realized that he had Covenant troops that he needed to deal with presently.

Coren sprinted over to the gaping hole that'd been blown out by the phantom, slid to his knees, and peeked out to the ground. Down below, the phantom was just beginning to activate it's gravity lift.

"Everyone, listen up!" He said as he moved towards the center of the room, standing on top of a cluttered desk. "We have the high-ground, and we need to utilize that. We'll put a double-deck of fire on them. Casper, Henry, Griff, and Cassandra will drop down to the 8th floor. I need 2 of you to put fire on the south side of the building where the second phantom flew around to. The other 2 of you need to concentrate your fire on the north side where the first phantom is." He called out. "The rest of you are up here with me. Coor and I are on the north side. Ashley and Anthony, I need you to lay fire on the south side.

"Cross your lines of fire! Hurry up, move! Go, go, go!" Coren shouted to them as he hopped off of the desk.

Then, he flipped the heavy desk over onto it's side and shoved it close to the shattered window facing the north. Coor did the same, moving up off to Coren's right. Down below, Covenant troops were spilling out of the phantom. Coren didn't have a special surprise attack he wanted to implement this time - he leaned over the desk and opened fire immediately.

His rounds were slamming downwards onto the grunts and jackals. He saw one of the grunts stumble to the ground underneath the hail of his bullets. In response, a trio of grunts dodged off to the side and took cover behind a city bus. The jackals activated their shields and took cover behind them, returning fire with their pistol plasma weapons. Yellow bolts of plasma splattered against the building, but were highly inaccurate. "Don't let up on them!" Coren shouted to Coor.

More Covenant troops came down the gravity lift of the phantom, spreading out and returning fire on them. One of the plasma rounds came close to hitting Coren, and he felt the heat from it - hot and burning. He ducked back down beneath the desk and slapped a fresh magazine into his assault rifle. Then he tapped on squad COMs - the Covenant knew where they were anyway. "Casper, are you all set up? We need some more fire on these guys!"

A brief moment later, he heard Casper's voice in his helmet. At the same time, he heard the discharge of more assault rifles. "We're set up now! Me and Griff are on north side."

Coren leaned back over the desk. "Focus your fire on the jackals - keep them suppressed." He told Casper. And then he looked over to Coor and said, "Aim and fire at the grunts. We need to cut them down."

Coren opened fire once more. He put his focus on the 3 grunts that'd taken cover behind the bus. Combined fire from him and Coor proved effective - Coren could see the blood erupting from the grunts as their rounds tore through the bus. Concentrated fire from 2 separate floors was keeping the Covenant troops at bay, but it wasn't enough. There were too many. The phantom had just finished letting out the rest of it's troops, and was finally flying away. Grunts and jackals were fanning out through the streets down below. More plasma rounds were beginning to strike close.

They were keeping the Covenant at bay, but they wouldn't be for long. They needed to get out of the building somehow - get away. Surrender wasn't an option.

"Everyone, transfer to the northern side of the building!" Coren shouted into the COM channel.

If he wanted this to work, then they needed to move fast. The Covenant troops set up on the south side of the HQ would flood into the building after a short while. Coren estimated that short while to be approximately 1 minute. He needed to use that 1 minute to clear up as many troops from the north side of the building as he could. The reason why was because of the elevator. He'd taken note of it when they'd first entered the building. With the power to the city gone, the elevator itself was resting on the first floor of the building - in the right corner of the northern side of the building. They could use the elevator shaft to 'rappel' down using the cables.

If he was lucky, then the Covenant troops would be too greedy for the kill in order to be cautious - they would commit all of their remaining grunts and jackals to filling up the upper levels of the building to hunt for Coren and the squad. Even still, he only needed to be partially lucky. If they left behind a few to guard the exits, then Coren's squad would deal with them.

The entirety of the team was focusing their fire on the northern Covenant troops.

"Everybody, listen closely. I want all of you to prime frag grenades - however many you can - and get prepped to toss them down below. Except for Henry. Henry, I need you to utilize that rocket launcher we scavenged from 3rd squad." He said loudly and clearly. "When I say 'Go', I want you all to throw your grenades. And Henry, I need you to fire off the last 2 rockets 3 seconds after I give the go.

"We've only got one shot at this."

While saying all of that, Coren was busy booby trapping the top floor. After they'd left the crash site of 3rd squad's pelican, he'd came across a spare LOTUS Anti-Tank mine. He'd had a feeling that it would come in handy - and it was. He laid the flowerlike disk down flat and planted it's spikes into the floor at the center of the room. Then, he covered it with scattered papers and other random junk he'd found lying around. After making sure it couldn't be seen unless you were actively looking for it, the final thing he did with it was alter the sensor's sensitivity, setting it to 100%. He didn't activate it, though - his Magnetic-T18 Claymores would do that job.

Then he shouted, "Go!".

Without looking around to see what the results of their actions would be, Coren rushed around to the 4 corners of the room, planting 6 of his last 7 claymores. His hands worked frantically as he struggled to find good spots to hide them at where they would still go off. He'd learned how to do all of this in AIT. After Coren was satisfied that everything was prepped, he swiveled around on his heels to face Coor and the others.

"Good effect on target." Coor said, giving a thumbs-up sign. "Enemy suppressed."

It was time for phase 2 of Coren's plan.

Alright.

"Ohkay. The elevator shaft in the right corner of the floor - north side of the building. Everyone get inside it and follow the line down to the bottom floor, one at a time. Move fast, but stay as quiet as you can. Go" Coren told them in the squadCOM.

This was the critical part of the plan. If there was any time to hold his breathe, it would be now. This was where they needed to get lucky. If something happened to compromise them - like say, the line tearing off due to the weight after a long period of inactivity - then everything would have been for nothing. And they would be dead. But it _would_ work. Coren wasn't going to die here. Like James had said on the pelican - they hadn't gone through the bullshit in UCMB for nothing.

He was getting nervous as everyone filed down the elevator shaft. The Covenant troops on the backside of the HQ were undoubtedly inside the building by now. They would cover each floor, though. They would be thorough. Which would slow them down a bit.

"Coren, I can hear them moving. I'm scared." He heard Ashley whisper on the COM.

"We'll be alright - just keep moving." He reassured her.

After making sure that he was the last one to go down, Coren re-checked the explosives he'd set up one last time. Satisfied, he slung his MA5B and leaped into the elevator shaft. His fingers slipped off the cable - he couldn't get a grip. A split-second moment of panic flashed through him. Then his left hand firmly caught it, and he nearly lost his grip as he struggled to hold himself up.

It was a long way down for him. He estimated that the Covenant were approaching the 8th floor by the time he hit the halfway mark. Beneath him, the others in the squad had pried open the ceiling of the dormant elevator. They were waiting on him. He assumed that meant that there weren't any troops on the first floor.

Coren's boots touched the roof of the elevator, and he felt immediate relief flood through him. He slid through the opening in the elevator roof.

"We need to move - now. I rigged up enough explosives on the top floor to bring down this whole building" He said.


	3. Chapter 3 - I've been through worse

**0730 Hours, 28 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**Hammer Base, UNSC Staging Region 1-B, planet Reach**

* * *

Major Nicholas Greene shifted in his seat.

He didn't do this type of job often. The need to do it rarely came about. It was Whitcomb's attentiveness to being thorough that was the ultimate reason for him being here. _All facets need to be analyzed, _was what Whitcomb had said. A, mostly, waste of time, was how Greene looked at it. In the end, it was just more paperwork - more higher-ranking officer garb that needed to be done. But to be honest, Greene was curious as well. He'd observed the footage from the helmet camera closely about a handful of times. He'd read the report a handful times as well. He was impressed with the Marine standing at attention in front of him.

"At ease, marine." Nicholas said.

The young boy snapped into rest position. He was standing in the center of the small, dark room. In front of Greene and his staff officer.

The boy couldn't have been any older than 23, but his uniform already had several impressive decorations adorned on it, along with a freshly new 3-striped bar - the rank of Sergeant. His hair was cut short and smart, deep black and smooth. Grey eyes stared straight ahead from a face that was hard and chiseled. In the file that Greene had read, the boy's face in the photograph had been much softer - and there hadn't been any cuts on it. Now, the boy had a scar running down the right side of his face, and he looked much more tough.

"You know why you're here, Sergeant Rimmons?" Greene asked, handing a sheet of paper over to the staff officer sitting to his right.

"This has to do with New Constantinople, sir." The boy said in a deep voice.

"I have some questions I need to ask you, pertaining to your actions during your mission to rescue Captain Benjamin Lloyd."

"Sir."

Greene briefly leaned over to his staff officer. Words were whispered. Then he nodded, and returned his attention back to the boy.

"In the frame of hierarchy for your unit, Lance Corporal Casper T. Williams was supposed to assume leadership of your squad, in the event that the squadleader is killed. Instead, _you _began calling the shots after your pelican crashed. Why is that?" Major Greene asked him.

There was a brief flash of something on the boy's face - it wasn't surprise. "We were stranded in enemy territory. Casper suggested that we stay put, in the hopes that a team would be sent to rescue us. I suggested that we make the move over to 3rd squad's crash site - due to the fact that it would only be a matter of time before Covenant search and destroy teams investigated our downed pelicans. I felt that our best bet would be to try and link up with any surviving members of 3rd squad _before _that happened." Rimmons said. He added, "Majority of the squad agreed with me, and so we took my approach to the situation, instead of Casper's, sir."

Major Nicholas Greene interlocked his hands and rested his chin on them. He thought, quick and hard.

"As I pointed out earlier, protocol dictates that the second-in-command takes charge of the squad upon the death of the squadleader. This means that, despite what _you _think, or any other member of the team, you were all to follow Lance Corporal Williams order." Greene said, looking the boy straight in the eye. Greene's voice was hard, stony. "None of the team followed his order, because of you."

The boy shifted on his feet. "Sir, I -"

"Moving on to the next topic - I need to discuss with you your escape from Illuminate City. I'm going to show you the video recording from your helmet - I need you to fill in the gap where the feed gets cut off." Greene said, cutting the boy off. He turned to face his staff officer. "Start the recording."

The staff officer tapped a button on her desk, and on the far wall was a projection of a helmet-camera feed. In the bottom left corner was the date of the record - 14 June 2537 - and the name of the recorder. Lance Corporal Coren Rimmons was above the date.

Greene looked at the boy as the recording played out. He could see the recognition of the events on the boy's face.

In the video, Rimmons was giving the order to his team to flee while he distracted the pursuing Covenant troops. There were Covenant troops chasing the fleeing marines, nearly catching them. There was an explosion. Bullets were fired, and plasma rounds missed. They all watched as Rimmons was busy leading the Covenant into a tight alleyway. The rest of the marines were retreating in the other direction.

Rimmons was knocked to the ground suddenly. Then the feed cut off completely.

"I read your report several times, Sergeant. But I need you to detail me exactly what happened after this. How did you get out?"

The boy turned to face Greene. He cleared his throat. "After we dropped the 10-story building on the Covenant strike team, I knew we had roughly 2 to 3 minutes before a response force came for us - a _massive _response force. And they came faster than that." Rimmons said, his eyes slightly glazing over as he went back to the day of the event. "I had no choice but to come up with a distraction while Cassandra led the rest of the team out of the city.

"The situation was bad..."

* * *

**1525 Hours, 14 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**New Constantinople System, _Illuminate City_, planet New Constantinople**

The situation was bad.

Coren had expected - no, he'd _known _- that there would be a quick-response force to hunt them down. They'd destroyed a 10-story building, along with 30+ Covenant troops.

They had pissed the Covenant off.

But they wouldn't get the squad. Coren would make sure of that. He'd told Cassandra to navigate them out of the city using the safest route she could. They would all make it out while the rest of the Covenant forces honed in on Coren. To make sure that he could draw all of their attention, he'd setup a little trick with that last claymore that he'd saved. Rule number 17 - save one claymore. Coren had modified a makeshift 'bomb' using an abandoned car, his last frag grenade, the claymore, and Ashley's last canister of biofoam.

He'd learned the trick in AIT - nearly killing himself when he'd tried it the first time. Using the hydrogen-injected ICE I/C plant implemented in nearly all modern personal transport vehicles, coupled with the chemical accelerant mixture found in biofoam, and multiplied by the force of a claymore, the explosion could have an earth-quaking effect. The synthetic carbon/silicon catalyst found in car engines burns the hydrogen fuel at even higher temperatures. The frag grenade was merely the detonator - a way for him to set it off. The explosion had taken out half of 3 different buildings, along with digging a shallow crater into the planet. Coren's teeth had rattled when it went off. And now, the Covenant were chasing him furiously, not even realizing that he was a lone marine.

Coren ducked his way into a long alley just as a hail of plasma rounds burned through the air where he'd been standing a split second earlier. The rounds sizzled into the side of the building on his left. He sprinted down the alley a few steps until he reached a discarded dumpster resting in the middle of the alley. He rolled over it and came up, facing the entrance to the alley. A grunt was waddling it's way towards him, firing off a round from it's plasma pistol. He let loose a quick burst of fire and watched as blood erupted from the grunt - dead before it hit the ground.

And then he got tackled. The air rushed from his body as he was slammed forward into the dumpster, knocking his helmet off and shattering the HUD eyepiece along with it. His vision hazy, he struggled to keep his balance as he was pulled backwards and tossed onto the ground. There were sharp squawking noises as the alien screamed at him. It was a jackal - or at least, it _looked_like one. It was covered in dark black feathers, and sporting dark grey armor. It gave a raspy shriek, baring it's sharp, angular teeth up towards the sky. The creature looked far more deadlier than an ordinary jackal. Small, piercing yellow eyes peered down at Coren as it raised a plasma pistol, aiming it directly at his face.

Coren's training kicked in. He rolled to the left just as the alien fired, narrowly escaping having his head vaporized. A wave of heat washed over him. As he twisted onto his back, he brought up his M6 pistol. He pulled the trigger three times - because he only had 3 bullets left in the magazine. The rounds tore through the armor of the alien. It staggered back, clutched it's chest, and dropped the plasma pistol. Blood was leaking from the holes in it's torso. But it wasn't dead. Damn.

Coren threw his pistol at it as he stood, and reached for his combat knife. The M6 clattered off of the wall as the creature ducked beneath it, charging into Coren's midsection. It pinned him up against the other wall, wailing loudly, it's claws tearing at Coren's armor. It threw a wild blow to his head, and he used his forearm to block it - feeling as if his bone had almost broke as the blow connected. He tried to punch it, and he did, but it hadn't even felt the hit. One of it's hands reached up and scratched him in the face, ripping at his right cheek. Coren gave out a loud cry as he used both of his hands to bring the combat knife down into the back of the alien's skull, stabbing it all the way to the hilt.

Almost immediately, the creature lost it's hold on Coren. He shoved it onto the ground, falling to his knees as he struggled to regain his breath and his strength. He reached for his assault rifle, noting how heavy it felt to him now, and fired the remaining rounds into the alien. It was unmoving, dead. The rounds spewed out blood from it, and Coren had it all over his armor. He didn't care. He was breathing as if he'd ran all day without stopping once. Damn.

But Coren couldn't stop. He looked up just in time to see a pair of jackals coming down the alley, letting off a trio of plasma bolts. He threw himself to the ground as the bolts sizzled over his head. With the ammo gone in his MA5B, Coren didn't have time to reload. Instead, he snatched up the fallen plasma pistol.

The weapon was warm, and the front of it was sizzling with energy, ready to fire. It was a bit heavier than he'd expected - heavier than the M6. No matter. Coren rolled to his feet behind the dumpster where he'd been before the jackal-thing had attacked him. He squeezed the soft trigger and plasma shot forth. A holographic meter on the plasma pistol began to fill up slightly as the rounds discharged from the weapon. Coren paid it no attention. The plasma bolts struck the shield's of the jackals, suppressing them and forcing them to hold tight. Behind them were even more Covenant troops. So Coren snatched up his helmet, fired off a few more rounds, and then sprinted further down the alley.

The plasma pistol hadn't been what he'd expected. It didn't feel as awkward as he thought it would. And it didn't feel as powerful as he thought it would, either. It was just a straightforward gun. A plasma pistol. Hm.

There was a doorway at the end of the alley. Nearly all doors used sensor-detection software to automatically open when a person got close. Sometimes, doors were locked - the only way to find out was to get close and see. Coren wasn't about to do that. Without looking back, he slammed his full weight into it, multiplied by the force of his momentum and the weight of his body armor. The door was torn inward and he fell through, landing in a heap. Tearing through a door hurt like hell. Damn.

Plasma followed him through it. The Covenant weren't letting him get away easily. Fat yellow blobs of plasma splashed through the doorway. Coren crawled out of their line of sight and took a quick look around.

He found himself standing inside the first floor of what he assumed was a hotel. The room was large - massive, with stairwells and elevators leading up to the upper floors. An indoor pond rested motionlessly in the center of the room, with a waterfall standing up against the wall far off to the left. Tables and chairs were strewn about the place, and above him was nothing but hotel room doors lining the walls. The lobby area was on the far side of the room opposite where he was standing, and so was the entrance.

Coren leaned back into the doorway that he'd torn through. A mass of grunts were scrambling down the alley, barking and squealing. He fired off a few more rounds from the plasma pistol. Without looking to see the results, he tore off in a run to the entrance of the hotel. He had to go around the large pond, which costed him some valuable seconds. Chairs and tables littered his path. It slowed him down as he navigated the miniature obstacle course.

Coren made it to the entrance just as the Covenant were making their way through the alley door. Instead of popping off a few more rounds, he just kept on running until he emerged from the broken-glass entry door of the hotel. He didn't know how much ammo the pistol still had - he didn't know what the holograms and shit on the gun meant at all. He had to conserve it. Damn.

This wasn't going to work. Coren couldn't run from the Covenant forever. Eventually, they would surround him. When that happened, it would all be over. He needed to think of a plan - he needed to focus. His mind reverted back to his days in AIT. Back to the days when he was learning how to survive on his own. He thought fast and hard.

And nothing came up. He wasn't sure what he should do.

* * *

**0745 Hours, 28 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**Hammer Base, UNSC Staging Region 1-B, planet Reach**

"...They were gaining on me. I knew I had only a matter of time before the gig was up." The boy took a pause then. He was recollecting his memories and catching his breathe.

The report had mentioned all of this, but it hadn't been as detailed. Greene specifically recalled reading the encounter between Coren and the Skirmisher. In the report, Coren had referred to it as a humanoid bat.

"The alien you encountered - the one that engaged you in hand-to-hand combat - is what we call a Skirmisher. As far as we can tell, they're closely related to the jackals. The difference is that they're far more stronger and agile, and we think that they rank higher in the Covenant hierarchy than the jackals do. You managed to kill one with a knife."

The boy took a quick glance at Greene, and then said, "It nearly got _me, _sir. If I hadn't been sloppy, I wouldn't have needed to use a knife to kill it."

The staff officer handed Greene a sheet of paper. Words and numbers were scribbled on it in handwriting. This was a sheet from the original. Stony, angular handwriting. Greene did a quick look-over, and then returned his attention to the boy. "In your report, you stated that you were trying your best to keep from panicking. You hid somewhere. Tell me about this."

The boy closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then he reopened them.

"I kept ducking them until I came across a small apartment complex. I broke my way in just in time - the Covenant hadn't seen me go in there. But they knew that I was somewhere in the area. I went inside one of the apartments, barricaded myself into the bedroom, and hid inside the closet for hours. All the way until it was night time." Coren said. Then he looked down at the floor for a brief moment. He swallowed. "I didn't write this in my report, but I fell asleep. I was scared and I was extremely tired. I just... Fell asleep. For a long time. They could have came in there and killed me at any time..."

* * *

**2225 Hours, 14 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**New Constantinople System, Outskirts of _Illuminate City_, planet New Constantinople**

_"Hey, wait for me dummy!" Tessa shouted at him, laughing hysterically as she rushed to keep up. Her ponytails bounced off her shoulders with each stride she took._

_Coren didn't have time for this. In Hide 'N Seek, there was the quick, and the caught. And Coren wasn't trying to get caught. He was on a 6-game winstreak - being the last man standing every time. He didn't need his sister trying to hide with him. She would give away his spot. But he had to if he didn't want her tattle-telling to mom. Dang._

_The playground was large, but all of the kids here were in on the Hide 'N Seek game. Everyone was rushing to find hiding spots. Some went to the monkey gym thing. Others were piling up in the crawling tunnels. A few of them were hiding behind trees._

_Idiots. Those spots were too obvious. Too easy. If Coren was It, he would have them all caught in a matter of minutes. You have to get creative when it comes to this game._

_Coren came up to a big tree filled with branches and leaves. It was perfect. He scrambled his way up, pulling himself onto a branch. He took a quick moment to look over his shoulder. Tessa tried to come up, but she slipped off. She couldn't make it up. Coren held out his hand for her. "Here, squirt. Grab my hand."_

_This was what Coren had been afraid of. He was losing valuable seconds trying to help her up the tree. Dang._

_They continued up the tree, getting almost to the very top. Coren was breathing heavy as he rested on a comfy, sturdy tree branch. This was perfect. From up here, he could keep an eye on the entire playground. Tessa wiggled her way onto a tree branch right next to Coren's. All they had to do was sit up here and wait for the others to get tagged. And then afterwards, Coren would go on the run. Tessa would be on her own, but oh well. Coren was trying to beat Casper's 8-game record. He wouldn't let Tessa get in the way of that._

_"Mom doesn't like for us to be climbin' trees, stupid." Tessa whispered to him._

_Coren shrugged. Mom wasn't here. She wouldn't know. "So? I'm trying to _win _this thing. Chris will never think to come up here looking for me. Hah!"_

_Might as well get comfortable. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar. It was a Choc'O Sweet. Coren had been saving up credits to buy himself a fortune of these things. His little fortune was beginning to run dry. This was his 2nd to last one. He licked his bottom lip as he pried the wrapper off. "Aumph-" He bit a large chunk out of it, chewing with his mouth open, munching loudly. He sucked his fingers._

_"Hey, gimme a bite." Tessa said._

_"No way! I only got one more of these!"_

_"Pleeease, Coren?"_

_"No. Every bite counts. I need my energy if I wanna beat Casper's record."_

_"I'm gonna give away our hiding spot, then."_

_"No! Dangit, Tessa!" Coren sighed. He should've left her when he had the chance. "Alright, here. Dang."_

_He broke off a small piece from it, and she ate it in one big go. Coren sighed. Then he heard footsteps down below._

_They were searching for him. Everyone must've gotten caught already. Coren went into focus mode as he turned on his Hide 'N Seek survival skills. They wouldn't find him unless he wanted them to._

Coren scrambled awake, slamming his head into the wall by mistake. Sharp pain split through his skull for a moment. Damn.

At first, he didn't know where he was, or how he'd gotten here. The room was extremely cramped and dark. He couldn't see anything even though his eyes were open. His muscles were hurting. He needed to stretch.

The room was a closet. He remembered what'd happened. The grunts had been hot on his tail. What'd started off as about 20 had increased to well over 60+ Covenant ground troops. Even a phantom had been on the hunt for him. The city had been starting to overflow with search teams. Coren thought that he'd been about to die from a heart attack. But the apartment complex looked like a perfect spot to hide. It was out in the open. He'd slipped his way inside just before a team of grunts rounded the corner.

Then he'd posted up inside one of the bedrooms - the bedroom he was in now. Shit was thrown all about the place. It was like the person who'd lived here - a girl, if the stuff in the place was any indicator - had rushed around frantically before fleeing. Coren didn't give a damn. After pushing a much-too-large dresser in front of the door, along with a few chairs and small couch, Coren had grabbed a pillow and locked himself inside the closet.

He'd figured that the closet would be uncomfortable, but he hadn't expected _this. _There were so many clothes and shoes, it was ridiculous. And it was cramped. Coren had fluffed and stuffed the pillow behind his bare head - the helmet had been destroyed by the jackal-thing - and got himself as comfortable as he could. Then he'd fallen asleep.

Now he was still in here. He estimated the time to be about 2230.

I've been sitting in here for hours?

Coren fought to stand up, struggling to keep his balance due to the enormous amount of shoes littered on the small floor. He stretched and felt some bones pop.

Ooh. He didn't know if that was good or not, but it felt good. He bent down to scoop up his MA5B, and then took a quick peak out the closet door.

Everything was dark, and it all looked undisturbed. The door was still barricaded. Coren stepped out of the closet for the first and last time. Carefully, he maneuvered his way over to one of the windows. There were no street lights on - the city power was off. He couldn't make out anything specific. There were just a bunch of shadows. The sun had gone down a long time ago. And there were no lights. Coren figured that was a good thing. No lights meant no Covenant. He knew there weren't any UNSC elements here.

He stepped away from the window and then went to work on un-barricading the door. His arms felt a bit weak, but he had the strength to shove the couch and the dresser out of the way. The chairs were no problem at all. After it was all clear, he took a moment to catch his breath, and then slowly opened the door.

Once again, everything looked undisturbed. The rest of the apartment looked the exact same as it had earlier, from what he could recall. The Covenant must've passed over this building without searching it - just as he'd hoped. He stepped out into a hallway that lead into the kitchen. Like he'd been trained, Coren finished checking the rest of the apartment. There was nothing suspicious. It all looked good. And so he went back into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

Nothing.

Damn.

Then he tried the cabinets. Nothing either. Damn. His stomach growled angrily. Coren had went a long time without eating in Infantry School and AIT, but _damn _was he hungry now.

He walked over to another window that overlooked the street below. Again, he couldn't make out any specifics, but there wasn't any movement. No shadows shifted suspiciously. No noises were made. It looked all clear. The Covenant must've left this part of the city. They probably assumed that he'd gotten away from this area completely. Coren shrugged.

Coren checked all of his equipment first. He had 2 more magazines for his MA5B, and his current magazine had 32 rounds left in it. That meant that he had a total of 152 FMJs left. The plasma pistol was a puzzle to him. He had no idea what those holograms meant. As far as he knew, it could have 100 more shots left in it, or 10. By rule, he assumed that he could rely on it. He would use it until it stopped shooting, and then switch to his assault rifle. And he had no medical supplies at all. He'd used Ashley's biofoam in that bomb that he'd created, so he had nothing.

No more grenades. No more claymores. No explosives of any kind left. And he had no food, which his stomach kept reminding him of. What he _did _have, however, was Cassandra's map. She'd given it to him just before they split up. The only problem was that, without a good source of light, Coren would struggle to read it. The only light he had was the flashlight attached to the barrel of his MA5B.

He took a blanket from the bedroom and draped it over himself completely, kneeling down to the floor with the map. Then he flipped on the the barrel-light and focused it on the map. He tried to pick it apart in his mind, the streets and landmarks and stuff. Hm. Hmm.

Hmmm.

He wished Cassandra was here. With her cool personality. And her exceptional navigational skills. She was the best shot in the platoon. She'd scored expert on the range in boot camp. They used her as a scout.

Coren knew that he needed to go north. That was the direction that they'd come from. There were so many roads. So many turns and streets and stuff. So he tried to focus on landmarks instead. It was such a detailed, complex map. Coren scratched his head and turned the map. Then he picked out where his current position was. On the map, there was a long stretch of street running east to west. It was seven miles long. Bakers Boulevard, was the name. Dead center of the street, on mile marker 4, was Crimson Apartments - which was the complex that Coren was currently in.

Coren focused on the major turns that he needed to make. He needed to memorize it. Rights and lefts, curves and straightways. All of it. This was important, and Coren needed to get it right. His life depended on it. For the most part, it wouldn't be too confusing of a maze to unravel. The course that Coren mentally plotted had him returning to the site of the pelican crash. That would be his biggest marker to let him know that he was close to the city limits.

It was cold outside. Coren had taken the blanket from the apartment with him. The main reason why was so that he would have something to block the light from his barrel-light if he needed to check his map. But he found himself wrapping the cloth around himself, tying it tightly around his neck. There wasn't much to see - from what little he could see. Everything was fairly the same as it'd been earlier today. Nothing suspicious.

Coren was just about to cross the street when he saw something move. Sight was extremely limited, but he knew that he'd seen something. Like a shimmer, or a shadow moving, or _something._Cautiously, Coren knelt down behind a UNSC Recruitment booth. Firmly grasping the plasma pistol, he looked around the side of the booth. There was another shimmer - as if he could see the air moving. It was strange. For a moment, Coren considered pulling out his assault rifle to check with the barrel-light - but he discarded the thought. Instead, he continued watching. Nothing happened for a minute, and Coren was just about to get back up, but then he saw it again. It was like a shift in the light. Like the light was bending or something.

_What the fu-_

He realized what it was. The realization hit him with a huge wave of fear - more than he'd ever felt in his life. It was active camouflage.

Immediately, Coren got back behind the recruitment booth. He had heard rumors of Covenant spec-ops troops that utilized state-of-the-art camouflage technology to make them nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. He'd brushed it off as spooky talk. Stuff to scare the new guys with. How could he hope to do something against this? He had no way of knowing where they were. The only thing he felt certain about was that they hadn't seen him - yet. If they had, he wouldn't be sitting here thinking about it. Coren couldn't imagine how lucky he must've gotten.

Well, not too lucky. He wasn't out of this situation yet.

He didn't know what to do.

Very faintly, Coren began to hear the movements of the Covenant soldier. He didn't know if there was more than one. He wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. The footsteps were getting louder. They were getting closer. A cool breeze swept over Coren as he clutched the plasma pistol with a death grip.

Coren paid attention to the footsteps. He listened closely, trying to place where the hidden alien was. Soft thudding sounds were reaching his right ear. Then he started hearing breathing. It was raspy and guttural. One set of breathing and footsteps. So Coren concluded that there must be one. And it was getting closer to his position. At this rate, it would stumble upon him, and he would be found. He couldn't let that happen.

It was to his right. One chance. That was all he had to pull this off. He was going to round the side of the booth and fire the plasma pistol. If he judged the sound of the footsteps and aimed accurately, then his plasma bolts would hit. If not, then they would simply fly across the street - and the alien would raise it's gun and blow him away. Damn.

It was close. Closer. Moving slowly and carefully. Breathing steadily. Coren counted down from 4 in his head. And instead of waiting until he reached one, he made the move.

Coren rounded the side of the booth, bringing the plasma pistol up to bear, and everything moved in slow motion. He waved it in front of him, but saw nothing. There was no shimmering. He pushed his legs into the ground and dived out to the side. Moving slowly through the air, he scanned as hard as he could. That was when he finally saw something out of place. In mid-air, he adjusted his aim accordingly. The invisible alien was moving. Coren pointed the plasma pistol at where he thought it was and began firing. He squeezed the trigger and discharged a plasma round. Then he did it again 2 more times.

He hit the ground.

The plasma bolts struck an invisible target, and everything returned to real-time. There was a sharp shriek of pain, and the active camouflage failed. Coren fired three more rounds into the alien. The bolts splashed against it, melting through it's armor, burning into it's skin. One of the bolts smacked it in the leg, and it collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Coren tucked his legs in and rolled, bringing himself up to his knees. He kept the plasma pistol trained on the dead target. It twitched twice.

It was a jackal. The armor was a greyish color, and there was no energy shield on it. Coren had never seen a jackal like this before. Nor the weapon that it'd been carrying. Sprawled about on the ground, the jackal was beneath what looked like a blue, huge rifle. It had an awkward, almost triangular shape. The handgrip rested at the butt of the weapon right behind a strange circular section with what looked like power crystals embedded in it.

Coren took a moment to let the adrenaline rush flee his body. He let his breath come back. Then he cautiously moved over to the dead jackal. There was a large hole in it's chest where Coren had fired the first round. Plasma pistols had a deadly effect up close. He holstered the plasma pistol and picked up the rifle. It was _very _heavy, and felt weird in his hands.

On top of the weapon was some type of scope. Looking through it, Coren was pleased to find out that it was set in some type of nightvision mode. He could see everything clearly, but instead of everything having the normal green hue to it, it all looked a bit purple. The crosshair was different - which made sense. It wasn't even a crosshair, to be exact. It was more of a round, oval shape in the center of the optics. This was some type of sniper rifle. He must've just killed some type of assassin jackal.

This was a snag. A snag that Coren would have to weather carefully. Where there was one Covenant trooper, there's always bound to be more. He had to assume that there were more of these assassin jackals lurking out there. What made it a frightening thought was the fact that they would all be wearing the active camouflage equipment.

How can I get out of _this_?

A city crawling with invisible sniper jackals. Coren wouldn't stand a chance. His best bet would probably be to get underground. The subway system that spanned the length of the city had access tunnels all around the streets. It was getting too dangerous to be up on the surface.

"I've been through worse," Coren muttered. Then he -

* * *

**0800 Hours, 28 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**Hammer Base, UNSC Staging Region 1-B, planet Reach**

**- **"Major Nicholas Greene, report to Admiral Whitcomb's office."

Coren was cut off by the voice on the intercom. He paused, uncertain of what to do. They were calling the Major to come to Whitcomb's place. So Coren looked at Major Greene and his staff officer, Lieutenant Raven Mayes. He could see the annoyance on Greene's face.

Major Greene sighed. "Damn." He muttered. Then he whispered something to Lieutenant Mayes. She nodded, and Major Greene stood up. "Alright, son. We'll finish this later." He turned to the lieutenant. "Mayes." He said, then strolled his way past Coren out of the room.

Coren shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He'd been standing at ease for a long time. In UCMB, the instructors would make them stand at positions for hours at a time. Coren had never gotten used to it.

The door closed behind the Major, and Coren turned his attention to the lieutenant. She was getting some papers in order, or something. Coren did a mental shrug - he didn't know what all that paper moving had been about that they'd been doing.

Her eyes met his. "Sergeant - you're dismissed. But we might be calling you back in here soon. So try not to leave the base, yeah?"

Coren was caught off guard by her accent. He wasn't certain if he could place it or not. It sounded like one of those Earth accents. Russian, was it? Coren didn't know, and so he mentally shrugged. But still, he hadn't met too many earthborn people before. Rumor had it that they were all wealthy. James sure as hell had been.

But before he left, he needed to ask. "Is everything ohkay, ma'am?"

She leaned back in her chair and looked at him. Piercing green eyes looked directly into Coren's. "You don't have to worry about anything, if that's what you're asking."

"I'm eager to get back on the frontlines." He said.

"And you will be - soon. Just enjoy this free time while you have it. The UNSC needs every Marine it can get. And after your last deployment, you've become somewhat of a valuable asset, no?"

Coren blinked once. His actions on New Constantinople had simply been a result of his training, nothing more. He didn't feel special. After making it off-world, Major Greene hadn't hesitated to nail the 3-stripes on him. "I need another good Sergeant. You're it until you get killed, or until I find someone better," was what Greene had told him. The rest of the squad had received medals and awards as well, but the only others to get promoted had been Casper and Cassandra. They were now Corporals. Coren had never expected to get promoted this fast out of training. Greene must have been telling the truth about needing a Sergeant.

Lieutenant Mayes collected the papers and rose from her seat. She was a head shorter than Coren, with very short black hair. Her uniform was decorated with a few ribbons. Coren figured that she must not be too long out of officer training. Luna OCS academy wasn't easy. She came around the desk and headed for the door, and Coren followed her out.

"In the meantime, I think you should get some rest, Sergeant."


	4. Chapter 4 - We'll be going to war

**0635 Hours, 29 June 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**Hammer Base, UNSC Staging Region 1-B, planet Reach**

**(the next day)**

* * *

Second Lieutenant Raven Mayes hid her amusement from the Major. He looked funny to her; it wasn't often that Major Greene got upset about anything. In fact, Raven couldn't recall ever seeing him visibly upset. He usually hid his emotions well. She found it both charming and a bit comical at the same time. The man looked so uncomfortable like this. He ran a stiff hand through his grey hair.

"Whitcomb." He bit the word out harshly.

"Are you ohkay, Major?" Raven asked.

Major Greene's office was more of an interrogation room. It was small and had hardly any furniture in it. There was Greene's chair, and then his desk, and then a single chair sitting on the other side of that desk. Raven was sitting in that chair. Greene was in the other one.

"That arrogant son of a bitch."

Raven looked down into her lap, suddenly finding it very interesting, trying her best not to smirk.

"He's basically going to put us in timeout - the entire company. He's sending us to Era Monsoon." Greene said, slouching low in his chair. He shoved a cigar in his mouth.

Raven wasn't finding it so amusing anymore. Era Monsoon was an outer colony world far away from Reach. Rumor within the UNSC had it that Era Monsoon was one of the worst deployments you could get. The population of it was little over 15 million. It was like being sent into the middle of nowhere, in a sense. The world is very cold and very bare. With little UNSC presence on it, the planet is filled with raiders and, according to some, Insurrectionists.

"Why?" She asked, a frown beginning to spread across her face.

"According to him, the UNSC needs to assure the citizens who live on the outer fringes that we are maintaining a competent military force on all of our systems - that we're willing to fight for every scrap of soil that we own. In order to keep down dissent." The Major said, shifting the cigar in his mouth. "The real reason is that he's upset about the loss at New Constantinople, and he's blaming it solely on the capture of Illuminate City by the Covenant. _We _were supposed to hold that city down, but we didn't have nearly enough reinforcements. Now he's getting rid of us for a while."

Raven wasn't sure about that. Maybe Whitcomb legitimately meant what he'd said. "Are you certain?"

"I know Admiral Whitcomb. He's been against every promotion, every decoration I've received since I hit first lieutenant. The only reason why I'm Major is because he has no one else for the job. But now he's about to waste us on a backwater planet!" Greene said, slamming his fist into his desk.

A few months ago, when Raven had first been assigned to Major Greene's company, she'd heard about the rivalry between Major Greene and Admiral Whitcomb. They'd never been in good spirits with each other. They were always napping at each other, almost like children. The biggest 'attack' she'd encountered yet had been New Constantinople. Admiral Whitcomb had assigned the company to Illuminate City with no backup at all. Heavy losses had been sustained in 2 separate platoons. The only survivors from 2nd platoon had been Sergeant Rimmons and his squad. Raven had been assigned to the Company HQ building outside of Illuminate City, so she hadn't had to participate in the actual fighting.

Speaking of Sergeant Rimmons.

"Are you still trying to get the rest of Sergeant Rimmons' verbal report?"

Major Greene looked up at her then. He finally sat back up in his seat, rubbing his eyes with his hands. He looked like he needed some sleep. "No. We have to get the company out of here by 1200 hours." He said. "Even still, Admiral Whitcomb told me that the boy's escape from Illuminate City has just been classified."

Raven was surprised at that. _Very _surprised. Why was that part of his mission so secretive? The Sergeant had been very elusive in his written report, and she'd gotten the feeling that he'd been hiding the full truth in his verbal report. Had he encountered something that's supposed to be hidden? Raven knew that the Sergeant was a very skilled soldier, evident by his incredible evasion of the Covenant, and his raw combat skill. But still... She couldn't help but find him even more interesting. She wanted to know what exactly happened even more, now that it was classified.

"Why are they keeping that classified? I don't understand. He managed to escape from the city, yes? Why be so secret about how he did that?"

"Whitcomb isn't telling, and he isn't allowing questions. Just forget about it. In the meantime, I need you to relay an order to Sergeant Rimmons. Tell him to get the company prepared for planetary departure. We're leaving Reach in 2 hours."

Raven stood up. "Yes, sir." She saluted, swiveled on her heels, and marched out of the room.

* * *

Coren tossed around on his bunk.

Then he put his pillow on top of his head and went back to sleep.

And then, about 15 minutes later, there was a knock at his door. An urgent knock.

And then Coren rolled over on the bunk to his left side, covered his head with the pillow again, and went back to sleep.

Suddenly, the door opened up.

But Coren was still sleep. He took his sleep seriously. He didn't want to get up.

Someone was calling his name, but Coren just pulled the sheets higher up over his head, covering himself completely.

Then he started feeling a shove - he was shoved in the back.

_What? _He thought. _I'm sleeping here. Damn._

"Sergeant Rimmons!"

Coren jolted awake, flinging the sheets off of his body completely, looking around frantically. He hadn't woken up that hard since his night in Illuminate City.

Standing to the side of his bunk was Lieutenant Mayes. Coren blinked twice, trying to figure out what was going on. She was standing there, dressed up in the battle dress uniform. There was a frown on her face.

He snapped out of the bed and saluted immediately. "Ma'am!"

"At ease, Sergeant." She said. Coren relaxed.

The tile floor was cold beneath his bare feet. He was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. Coren imagined that he must've looked stupid, standing there all disheveled and stuff. Naturally, he kept his hair cut short and sharp, but he'd gone a few days without shaving. But damn, he'd been sleeping good. This had better be good.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're leaving Reach. You are to get the company prepared for planetary departure. We go off-world in 2 hours." She told him.

"Where are we going? Did the Covenant attack us again?"

"We've been assigned to Era Monsoon, but there aren't any Covenant offenses happening as of now." The Lieutenant said. Then she looked him over once. "And please shave, Sergeant." And with that, she left the room.

Era Monsoon? Why were they being sent there? It was as close to worthless as any planet could get. There were hardly any worse places to go. A large presence of raider groups thrived there. And dissent was on the rise. The UNSC wouldn't be welcomed there. On top of that, an Insurrectionist brigade is said to be holed up near the capitol city there. Coren knew what the piece of shit was like from experience. Out of the 15 million people living there, only 7 million of them live in the city. The rest of them basically do whatever the hell they want.

Coren stepped into his bathroom. It was probably the biggest compliment one could get by being a Sergeant - not having to use the company restrooms with everyone else. The pay raise wasn't much to tell. He flipped on the shower and got himself washed up really quick. Normally, he'd have spent 11 minutes in the shower, but this time, he rushed.

After cutting his hair and getting dressed, Coren packed up everything that he'd need while away. It didn't consist of much, but it still filled up a duffel bag. Then he left his room.

The hallway was well-lit, and white, and lined with doorways on either side. There wasn't much traffic. Only 2 other people were currently walking the hall. Their boots made metallic clicking sounds as they walked along the tile floor.

The company barracks was in the adjacent building. And it didn't have many people in it. Only 20 people from 1st platoon had survived the battle. And 3rd platoon - the one that was bogged down in the middle of Illuminate City with Captain Lloyd - was gone. That left only the survivors from 2nd platoon, which was Rimmons and the others who'd gotten out of the city with Cassandra. So that was... What? 28? That explained why the two platoons had been merged last week. Including Major Greene and Lieutenant Mayes, that made a total of 30. It isn't uncommon for small units to get sent to the worlds on the outer-fringes for peacekeeping activities and stuff. But Era Monsoon was highly unstable. Coren wasn't sure if 30 marines was enough to cut it.

* * *

**1135 Hours, 6 July 2537 (Military Calendar)/**

**Old Willem, UNSC Outpost Riley, planet Era Monsoon**

**(One week later)**

Era Monsoon looked so much different on the surface than it did from orbit. From afar, the planet resembled Earth, almost identically. But up close, _touching _it, was another story. It rained all the time, and everywhere. As a result, the terrain was universally swampy across the entire world. Rarely did the sun manage to break through the thick barrier of clouds. It put a strain on agriculture here. Of the small number of farms on the planet that were actually able to produce, most of them were controlled by either the local crime syndicates or, rumor has it, the Insurrectionists. Needless to say, most of the food that the cities got were imported from across the expanse of UNSC-controlled territory. Which forced the local government to control most of the food supply available to the UNSC citizens.

Damn. That's Era Monsoon for you, Coren thought as he stepped into the small command bunker.

Outpost Riley was very small - the smallest that Coren had encountered. And the UNSC presence here was smaller than they'd originally thought. The outpost was run by about 15 Army Troopers in total, which was extremely tiny in comparison to the population of the city. Old Willem, the capitol city of the world, had about 45% of the total population of the planet. By consequence, there was only one barracks, which barely had enough room to fit the platoon. Other than that, the outpost only had the bare essentials as far as buildings were concerned. Coren shrugged.

Then he turned down a hall and headed into the joint-office shared by Major Greene and Major Takahashi - the official commander of Outpost Riley. His uniform was different from Greene's. His whole style was different from Greene's. The Army Troopers themselves were different from the Marines. But they got along.

"You wanted to see me?" Coren said as he stood in between the 2 desks; one on either side of the room.

Takahashi looked up. "Hello, Sergeant. I trust you have enjoyed your stay thus far?"

"It could be better; it could be worse."

Takahashi smiled briefly, and then interlocked his hands. "We are grateful to have the reinforcement of you Marines here. Needless to say, there is a lot of work we can get done now, thanks to the extra numbers. Era Monsoon isn't much, but it is UNSC. As a soldier of the UNSC, it is our duty to do what we can for the people. Old Willem is the capitol of this world.

"The plague of this world - the various crime units running rampant - has gotten out of control. Even now, Old Willem is being harassed by one of the larger groups in particular. Old Willem's miniscule police department has requested our help dealing with them."

Coren took pause for a moment. The police here couldn't even police their own city? What type of crime syndicate _is _this?

"The police are struggling with petty criminals?" Coren asked. He didn't mean to sound so... But he couldn't understand.

"This group is far more than a collection of petty criminals, Sergeant." Major Greene said.

Takahashi nodded. "We believe this may be a splinter group of Insurrectionists, but we can't say for sure. The city has been raided several times over the past few months by these professionally armed and organized criminals, and the Old Willem Police Department has requested our assistance. With the additional manpower we have now that you Marines are here, I'm confident we can rectify the situation."

Takahashi leaned back in his chair, and Major Greene leaned forward. "So we're sending you into the city to coordinate with the police department. Talk to them, find out what they know, and see what can be done."

Coren nodded. On paper, the UNSC wasn't obligated to get involved unless it actually _was _Insurrectionists. Otherwise, the situation had to be handled by the appropriate government agency. In this case, that agency was the OWPD. It's clear that they can't tackle on their own, however. On top of that, Takahashi had said that these 'criminals' were professionally armed, and professionally organized. That made them highly-dangerous.

"I'll get back to you with what I find." Coren told the majors.

* * *

The city itself reminded Coren of Reach. It was a blend of infrastructure and nature, which wasn't too common. Most cities had artificially designed natural parks and the like, but this one was completely genuine. Large, twisting trees rivaled with the buildings standing next to them. Animals were all over the place - squirrels and hignabirds and stuff like that. There was a thick cloud of smog looming over the city from the nearby factory. And although it was around midday, streetlights were on due to the insistent rainclouds up above.

Casper was with him. "So, how ya been?"

Coren hadn't been in civilian clothes since before the Battle of New Constantinople. He felt a bit awkward, for some reason. His shirt and jeans felt too loose. But he said, "It was better on Reach, that's for sure."

"Tell me about it. This place is done. If you ask me, I think the UNSC needs to just take all of the citizens off this world and assimilate them into other planets. Let the thugs and shit have this one."

"Well, that would be admitting defeat. Plus, this planet is still a key part of the interstellar economy. That factory over there is one of hundreds spread across this colony. The machines they build there supply every agricultural colony within 100 light-years."

Casper glanced at Coren. "How do you know so much about this place?"

"My family lived here when I was really young. I can still remember it. Anyway, how's everyone doing?"

They walked down a wide sidewalk that had little traffic on it. It was slightly drizzling today, which was a good deal. They passed by small-businesses and stores, most of which were empty. Majority of the population worked in the factories, and as a result, a large portion of the population lived their lives around unhealthy circumstances. This place should be doing better than this, Coren thought. They should be able to afford to renovate this city, with the trade income gained off of their factory industry.

"Being corporal isn't what I thought it would be. A lot of responsibility. A lot of paperwork. Basically no increase on my paycheck. Cassandra likes it better, though. She's pretty good."

"What about the brothers, Coor and Griff?"

"Same old. But Ashley hasn't been the same since Johnathon... You know."

Coren nodded. He _did _know. John had died right in front of him, and he'd felt the pain coursing through Ashley as she was unable to save him. She probably blamed herself for it. Coren made a mental note to go and see her sometime this week.

But they made it to the OWPD Headquarters.

Casper went in first, and Coren followed him. The inside was like that of most police HQs Coren had seen. A front desk, stairs leading up to a second floor, doors everywhere, the likes. What made this one different was the fact that there weren't many personnel on duty. A single DA was on the front desk, and Casper strutted up to her.

"Hey. We're here to see Captain Nicks. We're marines. From Outpost Riley."

She was young, and nice-looking, but Casper's cool guy act didn't work. "Identification, or you're going to get forced out of here."

Damn. Casper and Coren both whipped out their wallets. Coren handed Casper his ID, and Casper showed them both to her. She looked them over, thoroughly. It took longer than expected. Those raids must've gotten security to tighten up a bit - Coren had never had to wait this long for his ID to be approved.

She handed them back. "She's upstairs on the right, last door."

Coren took his ID card and left, but Casper stayed behind, saying something to her. Something about going out later. Coren didn't care. Personally, he wanted to be out of this city ASAP. The sooner he got this job done, the better. So he brought himself up the long flight of stairs to the 2nd floor. It overlooked just about all of the building. Various doors and hallways broke free from the main section of the building, but Coren found the Captain's room easily enough. He knocked a couple of times and then entered.

"Sergeant Coren Rimmons, UNSC Marine Corps, 23rd Legion, Charlie company. The guys who just popped up at Outpost Charlie. Major Takahashi says that you requested support from us on recent matters?"

Coren took a seat directly in front of the neatly organized desk. Captain Nicks was somewhere in her early thirties, with short red hair and a steel gaze. Her uniform was pristine, and so was her office. Tidy and neat. She was classic.

"I'm glad you could make it. I know that Era Monsoon isn't as inviting as some of the other worlds out there. Being out here on the outer-fringes, with a nearly non-existent UNSC military presence, and virtually no help from the UNSCDF at all, will do that to a planet."

Coren shifted in his seat, and then popped his collar briefly. "With all due respect, ma'am, that's why I'm here - sitting in your office. So that we can get to the heart of this matter and do whatever is necessary to repair this situation."

"After months of attacks on this city, now you want to do something about it. The damage has been considerable while you all have been hiding in your outpost. I've been asking for support since the start. We aren't a military - we can't handle stuff like this. Our SWAT team has done all they can, but they are hopelessly outmanned. The whole city is on a state of emergency, and the whole northern region is under lockdown. We've been fighting a war - doing your job for you, Sergeant."

"Officially, the military isn't supposed to get involved with crime; that's supposed to be handled by the necessary government agencies, such as yourself. If you -"

"On to business, then." Captain Nicks said, cutting him off with a wave of her hand.

Damn.

She leaned forward in her chair and looked Coren directly in the eyes. He met her gaze. He wouldn't be stared down; not this time. It wasn't his fault the police department was too sorry to put a stop to a few common thugs.

"We've been hit over a dozen times in the past 6 months. At first, we were able to weather the attacks; most of them have been focused on the northern part of the city. But after the 4th one, we began to run out of munitions. After the 8th one, we began to run out of men. Now, all we have left is about two dozen officers and our SWAT team, who is down to 16 men. The planetary guard - the troopers at Outpost Riley - have been reluctant to get involved. They didn't answer any of my calls for help, other than to say the exact same thing you just said."

Coren took a deep breath. "What can you tell me about these criminals?"

If Coren had thought she was serious before, he was getting corrected now. "I can tell you that these are _not _criminals of any kind. They have military-grade weapons and somewhat of a command structure. They are well organized."

"Insurrectionists." Coren said, bitterly.

"That's right. That's what I've been trying to tell the troopers at Riley. But they say that there is no proof, on top of the fact that there's only about a handful of troopers there!"

Damn. Innies. Coren had hoped that he would never encounter the Innies during his service time. Now was the worst time to be fighting against other humans. The damned fools were attacking the capitol of the planet. Provoking a response from the UNSC. Son of a bitch.

"Do you have any idea where they're coming from? Are there any abandoned factories north of the city that might be ideal for them?"

"There are several. I haven't been able to do much investigating due to the heavy losses sustained in our department. But it's likely they could be using one of those factories. We estimate their numbers, from what we've seen in the attacks, to be around 100."

* * *

"We'll be going to war with them." Coren reported back to Majors Takahashi and Greene.

"Going to war?" Takahashi asked. Coren could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Yes, sir. Captain Nicks estimates roughly 100 armed Insurrectionists troops, based on the assaults they have been conducting. She told me that they were using military-grade weaponry, a noticeable command hierarchy, and possibly a warthog."

"This is madness."

"Agreed, sir."

Major Greene cut in. "I'm agreeing with the fact that these are Insurrectionists. Only they would have the steel to do something like this, let alone vehicle support."

"I can put an end to these innies, sir." Coren said to Greene.

"How?" Both of the majors said at the same time.

Coren waited a beat. "Using all of our available forces here, including the rest of the SWAT team, I believe I can mount a successful attack against them. With all of the support available, we can hit them at _their _home, and put an end to this nonsense for good. They won't stand a chance against a coordinated strike."

Major Takahashi looked skeptical. He swiveled in his chair and looked out the window, into the rain, out at the city.

"Dangerous. And we don't even know where they are located."

"It is our duty to protect the city. We can stop these attacks for good, relieving the city of the strain it's put on them. And I can find their base." Coren responded.

Takahashi turned back around and looked at Coren. "And how are you going to do that?"


End file.
